With all the verbal war going on about the so-called “sexarticles” and columns published in The Simpsonian this year, it alljust made me wonder, “Is it really the articles that are botheringpeople or is it the subject that they don’t want to discuss?”

From going back and reading the articles I’ve personally foundnothing wrong with them.

What’s discussed in these articles is exactly what’s happeningon college campuses.

We’ve had parents, faculty and staff voicing their concernsabout the integrity of the paper for printing and publishing sucharticles.

The paper’s integrity is not compromised at all.

The newspaper doesn’t represent a one-sided view of any group orindividual; it writes, prints and publishes all sides.

Just because one group doesn’t like reading these articles,doesn’t necessarily mean that the newspaper should abandon thosewho might be interested in reading these articles.

Talk about a marketplace of ideas.

Some of the problems the world has today arise from the factpeople choose to deny they exist.

Whether you want to believe it or not, the issues addressed bythese columns or articles do happen on this campus.

I know some parents might not want to hear that their daughteror son got wild on Thursday, Friday or Saturday night at some partyand “hooked up” with a total stranger.

Yes, I understand it’s just not an easy thing to digest and I amnot asking you to do that either.

All I am saying is sex is something that happens and needs to beaddressed.

To save you from having to deal with it – because you reallydon’t see and don’t know it’s happening – because you don’t reallyhang out with your son or daughter at these parties; let theirpeers talk to them about it.

That’s what these forums are for: peer education.

Laura Dillavou writes about what she sees happening and what sheknows is happening on college campuses.

It is her opinion and it doesn’t necessarily reflect the actionsof all students on campus.

Whether she does or doesn’t do some of the things she writesabout is really nobody’s business but hers.

This is the 21st century and this society really needs to learnthat it is absolutely okay to talk about sex.

So many of our problems could easily be eliminated by talkingabout them. Those who have been exposed to such talk and possiblepreventative measures could be saved from making such mistakes inthe future.

From reading such articles, some students might say, “Geez! Idon’t want that happening to me.” That’s good for them because theycan say that they’ve learned from someone else’s experience.

I honestly don’t see what all the fuss is about.

He Said/She Said also addresses issues that occur on collegecampuses.

Whether the submissions are real or not doesn’t reallymatter.

The truth of the matter is that almost all of the questionssubmitted deal with lives of college students (once again, thatdoesn’t mean everybody).

Random sexual escapades do exist on this campus.

We do have students with tawdry sexual proclivities.

And yes, they sometimes fail to recall the occurrence ofthese.

Do we turn blind eyes and pretend they don’t exist?

No!

Of course not.

They need to be addressed and dealt with.

Since the writers of these columns and articles have theplatform to address them on a broader spectrum, why not let them dojust that?

So, stop complaining about the sex articles and just be thankfulthat there are students out there who are gutsy enough to addressthe sexual issues that some students have.

Now, does this mean that I have a low moral integrity?

No.

Definitely not.

I just think that people need to stop shying away from thistopic.

We wouldn’t have problems, such as the spread of AIDS, had wedealt and talked more openly from the onset.

Let’s talk about sex! It’s an okay thing to do.